KDHE official: Kansas high school sports ‘very unlikely to be successful’ amid COVID-19
High school sports are on track to continue as normal this fall despite the COVID-19 pandemic, but that decision has its dissenters — including some influential health experts with the State of Kansas.
The Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) Executive Board elected to not postpone fall 2020 activities on July 28, voting down a proposal with a 5-4 decision. During a news conference Wednesday, Lee Norman, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health & Environment (KDHE), warned that might have been the wrong decision.
“I think it’s very unlikely to be successful,” Norman said of KSHSAA’s on-schedule return to competition. “When you think of multi-million-dollar athletes in the professional ranks that are not thriving — we’ve had it (COVID-19 outbreaks) across almost every professional team and every kind of sport.
“And those people are being handled with gloves. Everyone around them is being tested. They’re being treated like the fanciest of race horses, and they’re getting (COVID-19). I’m really concerned that it will be highly likely there will be COVID-19 (positive cases in Kansas high school sports) and that sports will have fits and starts in terms of turning it on, turning it off.”
There were 354 new COVID-19 cases in Kansas the day the KSHSAA Executive Board voted to go ahead as scheduled with high school sports. Since the state’s phased reopening, positive cases have spiked dramatically even compared with before the lockdown, according to KDHE.
KSHSAA is aware of the climb in COVID-19 cases, executive director Bill Faflick said. Positive cases, he said, are going to happen.
“With all of these competitions, there’s going to be times where schools cannot participate because they are going to have to quarantine or they’re going to have to sit aside,” Faflick said during the July 28 board meeting. “That may be directed by local county health. That may be directed by a local board. But certainly understanding that that is a possibility starting sooner rather than later provides an opportunity for more games to be played this year while still adhering to the safety precautions that are in place.”
Kansas high school sports practices are scheduled to begin Aug. 17, with girls golf and girls tennis competitions slated to start Aug. 21. Boys soccer and volleyball matches will begin Aug. 28.
Football and cross country competitions may begin as soon as Wednesday, Sept. 2 under the original schedule, but football won’t start until Sept. 4 — Friday of that week.
“I don’t have a crystal ball, but I think it’s going to be a problem,” Norman said.
This story was originally published August 6, 2020 at 12:05 PM with the headline "KDHE official: Kansas high school sports ‘very unlikely to be successful’ amid COVID-19."